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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that sample - such as her world record performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had sought a four-year ban but the runner's penalty was reduced to three years because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - including messages from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter concerning the positive test for HCTZ has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also found in a test collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's medication - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the context of the athletics' doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after Chepngetich admitted the anti-doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's performances, honors, championships, participation and earnings from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although disappointing for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention able to uncovering substance abuses performed by elite athletes in their races."